Imaginative Writing

Summary

ALERT: Before you purchase, check with your instructor or review your course syllabus to ensure that you select the correct ISBN. Several versions of Pearson's MyLab & Mastering products exist for each title, including customized versions for individual schools, and registrations are not transferable. In addition, you may need a CourseID, provided by your instructor, to register for and use Pearson's MyLab & Mastering products.

Packages

Access codes for Pearson's MyLab & Mastering products may not be included when purchasing or renting from companies other than Pearson; check with the seller before completing your purchase.

Used or rental books

If you rent or purchase a used book with an access code, the access code may have been redeemed previously and you may have to purchase a new access code.

Access codes

Access codes that are purchased from sellers other than Pearson carry a higher risk of being either the wrong ISBN or a previously redeemed code. Check with the seller prior to purchase.

--

For courses in Introduction to Creative Writing or Creative Writing in English or Creative Writing Departments.

Written by bestselling author Janet Burroway, Imaginative Writing, covers all four genres: creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and drama. This textbook discusses elements of craft common to all creative writing before delving into the individual genres. After an introduction, the next five chapters each investigate a specific element of craft—Image, Voice, Character, Setting, and Story—from a perspective that crosses all genres. Nearly half of the selections in all four genres are new. New "Try This" exercises give students plenty of practice. Imaginative Writing is a very popular book for courses on teaching the craft of creative writing.

Author Biography

JANET BURROWAY is the author of plays, poetry, essays, children’s books, and eight novels including The Buzzards, Raw Silk (runner up for the National Book Award), Opening Nights, Cutting Stone, and Bridge of Sand. Her other publications include a collection of personal essays, Embalming Mom, in addition to a volume of poetry, Material Goods, and three children’s books in verse, The Truck on the Track, The Giant Jam Sandwich, and The Perfect Pig. Her plays Medea with Child (The Reva Shiner Award), Sweepstakes, Division of Property (Arts & Letters Award), and Parts of Speech have received readings and productions in New York, London, San Francisco, Hollywood, Chicago, and various regional theaters. Her textbook Writing Fiction, now in its ninth edition, is the most widely used creative writing text in the United States. Her most recent books are a memoir, Losing Tim, and a collection of essays she has edited, A Story Larger Than My Own: Women Writers Look Back on Their Lives and Careers. She is Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor Emerita at the Florida State University in Tallahassee and has most recently taught in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Northwestern University.

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1 Invitation to the Writer

You …

… and writing …

… and reading …

… and this book …

… and your journal …

Journal Excerpts

Ayelet Waldman

Billy Collins

Cris Mazza

Patricia Henley

Philip Graham

A word about your workshop …

Part I The Elements of Craft

Chapter 2 Image

Image and Imagination

Concrete, Significant Details

Figures of Speech

Readings

Creative Nonfiction

Annie Dillard

from Heaven and Earth in Jest

David Sedaris

Standing By

Fiction

Tobias Wolff

Bullet in the Brain

Jamaica Kincaid

Girl

Poems

Roger Bonair-Agard

American History looks for light—a prayer for the survival of Barack Obama

Billy Collins

Snow Day

Yusef Komunyakaa

Facing It

Drama

Jane Martin

French Fries

Chapter 3 Voice

Your Voice

Persona

Irony

Character Voice

Point of View

Readings

Creative Nonfiction

Alice Walker

Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self

Warren J. Bowe

Guns for Teachers

Fiction

George Saunders

Victory Lap

Jorge Luis Borges

The Book of Sand

Poems

Alicia Ostriker

Wrong About the Horse

Barbara Hamby

Ode to American English

Adam J. Ruben

The Grad Student Rap

Drama

Chuck O’Connor

High Hard Ones a Play

Chapter 4 Character

Character as Desire

Character as Image

Character as Voice

Character as Action

Character as Thought

Character as Presented by the Author

Character as Conflict

Stock and Flat Characters

Readings

Creative Nonfiction

Aleksandar Hemon

The Book of My Life

Benjamin Percy

Me vs. Animals

Fiction

Richard Bausch

Tandolfo the Great

Poems

Theodore Roethke

I Knew a Woman

Carole Simmons Oles

Stonecarver

Elizabeth Jennings

One Flesh

Kaylin Haught

God Says Yes to Me

Drama

Molly Campbell

Telephone Bob

Chapter 5 Setting

Setting as the World

Setting as a Camera

Setting as Mood and Symbol

Setting as Action

Readings

Creative Nonfiction

Joan Didion

At the Dam

Fiction

Donald Barthelme

The School

Angela Carter

The Werewolf

Poems

Sherman Alexie

At Navajo Monument Valley Tribal School

John Freeman

Beirut

Philip Appleman

Nobody Dies in the Spring

Yusef Komunyakaa

Nude Interrogation

Drama

David Ives

The Philadelphia

Chapter 6 Story

As a Journey

As a Power Struggle

As Connection and Disconnection

Readings

Creative Nonfiction

Patricia Hampl

Red Sky in the Morning

Fiction

David Foster Wallace

Incarnations of Burned Children

Scott Blackwood

One of Us Is Hidden Away

Poems

Robert Hass

A Story About the Body

Albert Goldbarth

Columbine High School/Littleton, CO

Maxine Kumin

Woodchucks

Li-Young Lee

The Hammock

Drama

Lanford Wilson

Eukiah

Chapter 7 Development and Revision

Developing a Draft

Structuring

Research

Revision

Editing

The Workshop

Examples

Elizabeth Bishop: First and Final Drafts of “One Art”

Patty Seyburn: “Anatomy of Disorder”

Janet Burroway: The Opening of Indian Dancer

Part II The Genres

Chapter 8 Creative Nonfiction

The Essay and Creative Nonfiction

Memoir and the Personal Essay

Techniques of Creative Nonfiction

Fact and Truth

Readings

Gayle Pemberton

Do He Have Your Number, Mr. Jeffrey?

Margaret Atwood

The Female Body

S. L. Wisenberg

Margot’s Diary

Michael Chabon

Ragnarok Boy

Creative Nonfiction Format

Chapter 9 Fiction

Story and Plot

Scene and Summary

Backstory and Flashback

Text and Subtext

Readings

Amy Bloom

The Story

Ernest Hemingway

A Very Short Story

Ursula K. Le Guin

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

Edith Pearlman

Self Reliance

Ron Carlson

Bigfoot Stole My Wife

Fiction Format

Chapter 10 Poetry

Formal and Free Verse

Working with Sound

The Poetic Line

Imagery, Connotation, and Metaphor

Density and Intensity

Finding the Poem

Readings

Gerald Stern

Columbia the Gem

Sylvia Plath

Stillborn

Steve Kowit

The Grammar Lesson

Tony Hoagland

There Is No Word

Grace Paley

Fathers

Erin Belieu

Love Is Not an Emergency

Sharon Olds

The Language of the Brag

Nick Laird

Epithalamium

Poetry Format

Chapter 11 Drama

The Difference Between Drama and Fiction

Sight: Sets, Action, Costumes, Props

Sound: Verbal and Nonverbal

Structure: Making a Scene

The Ten-Minute Play

Readings

Anton Chekhov

The Proposal

José Rivera

Gas

William Dunne

Good Morning, Romeo

Joe DiPietro

Executive Dance

Drama Format

Appendix A: A Basic Prosody

Appendix B: Line Editing

Glossary

Credits

Index

We are currently experiencing difficulties. Please try again later.

We are currently experiencing difficulties. Please try again later.

An electronic version of this book is available through VitalSource.

This book is viewable on PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and most smartphones.

By purchasing, you will be able to view this book online, as well as download it, for the chosen number of days.

A downloadable version of this book is available through the eCampus Reader or compatible Adobe readers.

Applications are available on iOS, Android, PC, Mac, and Windows Mobile platforms.